It Is Me After All
by FairyTale87
Summary: Set in 2x03 ...and I can understand; all I need is your hand.


_And I can understand__; __all I need is your hand.__  
__Oh, won't you take the fall? __  
__It is me after all_

_I'd be Lying, Greg Laswell _

There's always the one guy that can never get the girl; the one guy who does everything for her, but gets nothing in return other than an innocent smile or hug; the one guy who always wants _more. _

That was most certainly Stefan Salvatore.

Since Caroline Forbes had become a vampire, he and she had definitely bonded. When Stefan was around her, he felt like a different person- a person which wasn't haunted by a sadistic past; a person who could be free. When he looked at Caroline, he saw innocence; he saw himself staring at his own personal sun. The way her perfect flaxen hair blew in the wind; the way her gray-green eyes shined; the way her smile had the power to melt his heart, and make him feel like a real teenager again. It was true; Stefan Salvatore was intoxicated by Caroline Forbes.

"Okay, so, what now?" Caroline asked, once Stefan had guided her into the woods. Today, Stefan was teaching her how to hunt.

"We wait. Wait until a decent looking bunny or something comes around," Stefan replied shrugging his shoulders. Caroline opened her mouth to respond, but the words hung silently in her throat. She stared at her mentor in utter shock.

"B- bunnies? Really? That's so disgusting." She wrinkled her nose before continuing, "So, for the rest of my life, I have to eat woodland creatures. Wonderful," she deadpanned, slumping against a tree trunk behind her, a pout displayed on her face. Looking at the girl in front of him, Stefan couldn't help but smile. She was too adorable. Exaggerating a sigh, Caroline crossed her arms. She was being a total Drama Queen, Stefan decided, and couldn't stifle a chuckle.

"You're laughing at me," Caroline stated, glancing at the vampire in front of her.

"No," he replied slowly, "I wouldn't necessarily call it laughing. It's more of a 'you're such a girl' type deal," he said with a smile growing on his face. It still perplexed him, how Caroline could make him feel like a totally different man. He quite liked it.

"Hey, any normal person would think that living off of woodland creatures is disgusting and cruel. I mean come on, they're so cute! I don't want to kill cute little bunnies, squirrels, and chipmunks. They're too Disney-ish and adorable. Plus, they probably have diseases." Caroline crossed her arms.

"You know you just further proved my point, right?" He looked down with a chuckle, before lifting his eyes to meet hers. "And," he continued, "You're a vampire. Even if they did have a disease, you wouldn't die," he reasoned. Again, Caroline opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. It was amazing to her, how being around him could make her so self conscious; and Caroline Forbes was _never _self conscious.

"Yea-yeah," she finally stuttered, "but still. That doesn't make up for the fact that it's still really gross." Stefan simply stared at her. "Like I mean," she continued, "if you had the choice between the pure uninfected blood of a human, or the blood of a diseased squirrel, you'd choose the pure stuff, wouldn't you?" Caroline further proved her point by cocking her head to the side, and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Stefan surrendered, "I'd _prefer_ the uninfected blood, but I have a strict no human blood policy."

"Huh. Well, you're policy is whack. You're really going to stand there and say you'd be all high and mighty and go for the woodland creature blood?" She took a challenging step towards him.

"My policy is whack, huh? Well, are you really going to stand there and say you'd rather suck a human dry?" He mimicked Caroline's movement and took a step towards her.

"No one ever said anything about sucking," she replied, taking another step towards him.

"True, but if you recall, you've already killed someone," he looked at her seriously. Seeing the dark look flash over her eyes, he quickly added, "and you're just a baby; you haven't been trained yet," he teased, taking a challenging step towards her. The distance between them was closing rapidly. If they didn't stop their banter soon, they'd be chest to chest.

"I'm a baby," she deadpanned.

"You heard correctly," Stefan replied, taking another step toward her. Both Caroline and Stefan could feel themselves becoming nervous.

"_She's just a baby, but her boyfriend's like a dad, just like a dad,_" she sang in response.

"You did not just sing _Alejandro_," Stefan replied shaking his head.

"Oh, yeah, I think I just did," she replied, closing the final few inches between them. Stefan breathed in sharply, at the shock of her being so close. She smelled so sweet; sweeter than honey, even. The smell drove him mad. He could only imagine how sweet her blood must be. The thought quickly dispersed, when he realized what he had just imagined.

"Yo-you know, when um, a human becomes a vampire, they're personality becomes amplified," he stuttered as he stepped back. He couldn't have her that close. The urge to kiss her was too strong. Caroline let her shoulders slump momentarily before making eye contact with Stefan.

"So, basically you're saying, now that I'm a vampire, I'm an overzealous drama queen on crack, with a soft spot for woodland creatures?"

"Well," Stefan replied, recovering from their close interaction, "I wasn't going to put it quite like that, but…" He gave her a smile.

"Oh, wow, thank you, Stefan," she said with sarcastically, "you're such a peach."

"I'm actually a bigger fan of strawberries," he joked. Caroline looked at the vampire flatly.

"You really want me to call you a strawberry?" She deadpanned, with a smile crawling onto her face.

"Is peach really any better?" he countered, crossing his arms. A smile was swiftly finding its way onto his face.

"No, I guess it isn't," she agreed. The two stood in silence, just staring at each other. Caroline still couldn't believe just how perfect Stefan was. Yeah, Matt was cute, but Stefan was godlike. His defined bone structure, she could have sworn, was chiseled by god. His emerald eyes glowed as he stood under the patch of sun showing through the trees. Staring at him, it gave her a surreal feeling; like being inside a perfect dream.

"Stefan," Caroline began lightly, "I wanted to thank you; for being here for me. This transition is such a scary thing, and it means a lot to me, that you're helping me through it." She gave him a small smile.

"You're welcome," he smiled.

"I mean, without you, I would have probably killed half the town by now. And it's nice to know you're here; it helps keep the nightmares away." Caroline, in all her life, had never been this sincere with anyone; it felt good, to be.

"I told you Caroline, I won't let anything happen to you," he gave her a reassuring smile.

"I know," she whispered, and embraced him. At the contact, Stefan went stiff. Feeling her body around his was heaven. Relaxing into her embrace, he wrapped his arms around her waist. Caroline closed her eyes in content and placed her chin on her shoulder. Stefan responded by lying his head on top of hers. Exhaling deeply, Caroline removed her arms from his back and untangled them. Stefan stared at her, once she had stepped back.

"What's with your serious vampire look?" She asked, laughing lightly.

"My wha- my serious vampire look?"

"Yeah. It's sort of like your worried vampire look, or your 'it's a day of the week' look."

"I get it," he said with a tight smile, "you think I'm too serious."

"Well, I wasn't going to put it quite like that, but.." she trailed off with a smile. He shook his head at her, while an ever growing smile spread on his face. Leaning into her, he nudged her with his shoulder. In response, she nudged him back.

Chuckling, Stefan said, "Okay, enough delaying. You're going to hunt." He gave her an exaggerated serious look. She rolled her eyes at him in return, and let out a slight giggle.

"Okay," she replied, "but you're responsible for all the innocent little bunnies you kill," she taunted.

"Yes, I'll make sure I apologize to Thumper before I kill him, Ms. Overzealous drama queen on crack, who has a soft spot for woodland creatures," he supplied her with a grin.

It was in this moment, where Stefan realized it didn't matter what part Caroline played, just as long as she had a major role in his life.

~Hello, all! So this is my first attempt at Staroline. I know it's kind of short, but I wanted to see how people reacted to this, before I write anymore. **To all my Delena readers who were awesome enough to read this, thank you so much. **_**This is also my way of getting S/C out of my system, because in UOT (for those of you who read it. If you don't, please do!) the story will have Taroline. **_Anyways, I also apologize if Stefan is too much like Damon. I'm not a huge Stefan fan, so writing him always makes me cringe. LOL

**Remember, reviews are love, people! ;)**


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